News & Events

Game-Changing PTSD Research Gets Greenlight Thanks to Major Donor

CINCINNATI – Thursday, February 23, 2017 – A $1 million pledge from the Chris T. Sullivan Foundation will help launch a potentially game-changing study into a new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder at the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute. The generous gift, from a foundation established by Outback Steakhouse co-founder Chris T. Sullivan, will allow researchers to test a more rapid treatment for PTSD.

“It’s all about helping people with PTSD,” said Kathleen M. Chard, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at UC, director of the UC Health Stress Center and director of the Trauma Recovery Center at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. “The Chris T. Sullivan Foundation has given us the opportunity to make available a new therapy that may have been delayed for years due to the lack of controlled research.”

Chard’s study specifically will examine the effectiveness of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) compared to Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD treatment. ART is a form of psychotherapy that aims to produce results more rapidly than traditional approaches to psychotherapy. Civilians, United States military veterans and active military will be eligible to participate in the study, which Chard estimates will enroll its first patients by mid-April.

“This study is extremely important to me and the mission of the Chris T. Sullivan Foundation to help improve the lives of others,” said Chris T. Sullivan, president of the Chris T. Sullivan Foundation and co-founder of Outback Steakhouse. “The results of the research conducted at the University of South Florida confirmed that Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is effective for treating people suffering from post-traumatic stress (PTS), and I believe the results of this new study will do the same. There are countless individuals – veterans, active military and civilians – who are not receiving the services they need to treat PTS and other psychological traumas. It is my goal to do everything I can to expand ART so that it is readily available in our country and beyond to cure those whose lives have been affected by trauma.”

The UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute is a collaboration of UC Health and the UC College of Medicine, and is the region’s leading treatment, research and teaching center for complex neurologic and psychiatric conditions, including PTSD. About 7 or 8 out of every 100 people (or 7-8 percent of the population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. By definition, the disorder typically occurs after a life trauma – a shocking or dangerous and often life-threatening event.

“We are so grateful for the Chris T. Sullivan Foundation and its commitment to advancing PTSD research, treatment and care,” said Joseph Broderick, MD, professor of neurology and director of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute. “Studies like Dr. Chard’s are paramount to our ability to offer leading-edge treatment options for our patients in Cincinnati and beyond.”

The UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute is in the middle of a $54.5 million fundraising campaign to help fund the creation of a new world-class outpatient facility and expand programming. More than $39 million already has been raised, including a $14 million pledge from the James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Foundation.

Thanks to a $1 million gift from the Chris T. Sullivan Foundation, Kathleen M. Chard, PhD, pictured here, will be able to conduct a potentially game-changing PTSD study at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute.